Dark Abyss by Kaitlyn O'Connor (top fiction books of all time txt) 📗

took her several minutes to recover from it and even try to behave ‘normally’.

She saw when she emerged from her thoughts that Caleb was still looking at her questioningly. “Because it’s the custom on the surface and it’s what I’m used to.”

“So it … bothers you that we don’t wear anything?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But it does, doesn’t it?”

“No, no! It really doesn’t!” she lied, wishing he would drop the subject.

He frowned. “I was thinking about trying to talk you into stopping by the station to give us some descriptions, but you aren’t going to be comfortable with that, are you?”

So much for thinking there was anything flirtatious or suggestive about the discussion! It was an opportunity to put off the inevitable, though, and she didn’t want to lose it. “I could do that.”

He cocked his head questioningly. “You’re sure you wouldn’t mind?”

“No … I mean, I’m sure!”

His smile lit up his handsome face, lit her up and turned her insides to molten putty. No man should be able to do that with no more than a smile, she thought a little dazedly as he caught her elbow and escorted her through the house, make her feel weak all over and breathless and faint just by smiling at her.

She felt the same way when they reached the foyer and the pool she only vaguely remembered arriving through and she looked down to discover the metal ‘coffin’ she’d feared attached to it. “How … how clever!” she gasped weakly. “It’s a … uh … docking station, too?”

“Be careful climbing down the ladder. The rungs might be a little damp.”

They were, but she did all right until she stepped on the trailing hem of the robe and pulled the thing half off. Grabbing the neck, she yanked on it to cover herself and managed to dislodge her foot from the rung below her completely. Fortunately, she only missed the last one. Her knees buckled from the scare, though, and she landed in the floor—actually the front window of the thing since it was docked nose down, which scared her almost as badly.

Joshua was already trying to help her up when Caleb hooked his feet on the sides of the ladder and slid down it. The hard part about getting up was trying to straighten without disrobing at the same time. She finally managed to get her feet free of the damned thing, though.

“You alright? You hurt?”

“No,” Anna said shakily, trying to ignore the throbbing on her hip, shin, and along her ribs on her back. She actually wanted to examine the pain to see if she was just bruised or bleeding, but she was embarrassed enough about her clumsiness that she decided to wait until neither of the men were looking.

“Let me help you get strapped in,” Caleb said soothingly, helping her into a seat.

She was shaken enough from the fall and the discovery that she’d landed on a glass window that she was grateful for his help. She wasn’t sure how long it would’ve taken her to figure out how to get the harness fastened without help.

“Too tight?”

She shook her head.

“You sure you aren’t hurt?”

“Oh! No! No!” she assured him. “I may be bleeding internally—heh-heh—but otherwise I’m sure I’m fine.”

He frowned at her.

“I was joking.”

He still looked skeptical, but he settled in the seat beside her and strapped in.

“Ready?” Joshua called back to them.

“We’re ready.”

Anna gripped the arms of her seat as Joshua started the engine and she felt the bubble-like transport begin to vibrate all over.

“Does it always do this?” she asked uneasily.

Caleb frowned. “I guess. I never noticed.”

Oh! That was reassuring!

A jolt went through her, traveling all the way down her spine and making her sphincter clench when she heard a loud clang behind her. “What was that?” she gasped.

“He just closed the hatch.”

“Oh.”

“This will be a lot more comfortable than the trip down.”

She smiled at him weakly. Then Joshua dropped the damned thing. It suddenly fell. Her stomach leapt into her throat and tried to choke her, which was fortunate because it prevented her from screaming her head off when he swooped upward again and her seat rotated. She thought for several unnerving moments that it was going to keep rolling until she was standing on her head. Instead, it righted itself and began to rock back and forth, slowing gradually to a gentle rocking and finally stopping and clicking in place.

“Wasn’t that fun?” Caleb asked cheerfully.

She discovered when she glanced at him that he was wearing a pleased grin. She gave him a drop dead look. “You might have warned me my damned seat was going to flip!”

He looked surprised and vaguely annoyed. “I thought you’d enjoy it.”

“I don’t enjoy getting the shit scared out of me!”

“Well, pardon me all to hell!” he said tightly. “How was I supposed to know it would scare you?”

He had a point, but there was a world of difference between ‘enjoyment’ and ‘scared half to death’. She might not have been frightened and still not enjoyed it! She sulked about it a while, but she began to feel guilty about being so nasty when she lost some of her fear. “Sorry,” she muttered. “It scared me, ok? I’ve never been in one of these things and I’m afraid of heights.”

He relaxed fractionally. “We’re in the ocean.”

“But I still felt like I was falling and it’s black as pitch down there.”

“The sun isn’t up yet. During the day, there isn’t much light